I knew
that someone would know and I knew it would be one of you.
Che-Mun subscribers are an amazing bunch – a
collective pool of knowledge that I love to tap.

The
question was; where is the Ptarmigan Rapids on the upper
Dubawnt River that J.B, Tyrrell took a photo of? His 1893
photo appears on Page 12 of Outfit 114. It turns out my
guess was very close.

I had
surmised it was the long curving rapids coming out of
Hinde Lake. Thanks to Brian Gnauck of Marquette, MI it
seems I was just off by a few miles. He notes Ptarmigan
Rapids as the two double-bar rapids about four miles out
of Hinde Lake. He sent a copy of his annotated map and
even a photo of them doing the rapids (into a bright
morning sun). In my journal they were noted as the first
set we scouted then ran but I had no name for them. That
was before the days of in-depth historical research. Many
thanks, Brian.

The HACC
has begun to prepare for another trip after missing last
year. It will be a shorter, more southerly route than
usual but a key cog in the fur trade route and a trip done
in 1958 by Eric Morse.

Our
working title is Crown of a Continent: The
Methye Portage. The plan is to begin where Eric and
three others did in 1958 – Ile-a-la-Crosse, the starting
point for the famed Lonely Land Churchill River trip
done in 1955 by The Voyageurs. But Eric headed
west this time up into the very top of the Churchill
River system in order to do the 12-mile Methye Portage
into the Clearwater/ Athabasca systems and finish in
Fort McMurray.

We’re
not sure if this will be another online trip yet and
there are a couple of other variables but it sure is
nice to be able to start planning for real again. We’ll
have more on this in Outfit 116.

And
finally, I would like to thank all of you who took the
time and consideration to respond and react to the
passing of the Labrador canoeists, Daniel Pauzé and
Susan Barnes. I was touched by the thoughtfulness of
your comments .